Passenger aircraft which are used at present comprise a pressurised cabin, the internal pressure of which in flight is kept at an increased pressure level compared with the ambient pressure, i.e. the reduced atmospheric pressure at great heights, for example by an air-conditioning system which is fed with engine bleed air. In general, the pressure within the cabin of a passenger aircraft when the aircraft is in flight, i.e. when the aircraft is at cruising altitude, usually corresponds approximately to the atmospheric pressure at a height of 8000 feet (about 2400 m). The air-conditioning air provided by the aircraft air-conditioning system is usually fed into the cabin through air inlet duets, which open into the cabin above the passenger seats in the region of ceiling lining panels and/or side lining panels of the cabin lining. Exhaust air is usually discharged from the cabin through air outlet ducts, which are arranged in the region of a cabin floor or a section of the side lining panels near the floor. In order to avoid damage to the cabin lining, in particular to the side lining panels, in the event of a decompression, i.e. in the event of a pressure drop in a region of the aircraft cabin which is kept at increased pressure during flight, a mutual pressure equalisation, between an inner region of the aircraft cabin which is delimited by the side lining panels of the cabin lining, and a region of the aircraft lying between the side lining panels of the cabin lining and the aircraft outer skin, must be possible in the event of decompression.
From DE 10 2009 012 015 A1 there is known a dado panel with an integrated flap mechanism which, in the event of a sudden pressure drop in the region of the aircraft lying between the side lining panels of the cabin lining and the aircraft outer skin, opens a pressure equalising opening, through which air can flow out of the inner region of the aircraft cabin delimited by the side lining panels into the region of the aircraft between the side lining panels and the aircraft outer skin, which is affected by the decompression. In the event of a decompression in the inner region of the aircraft cabin delimited by the side lining panels, by contrast, an air outlet duct which serves, in the normal operation of the aircraft, to discharge exhaust air from the interior of the cabin into the region of the aircraft lying between the side lining panels and the aircraft outer skin is utilised to lead air out of the region of the aircraft lying between the side lining panels and the aircraft outer skin into the inner region of the aircraft cabin affected by the sudden pressure drop and thereby ensure a pressure equalisation between the inner region of the aircraft cabin and the region of the aircraft lying between the side lining panels and the aircraft outer skin.
The air outlet duct cannot, however, then be optimised only with regard to its function as an exhaust air discharge duct in the normal operation of the aircraft, but must be designed such that it enables, in the event of decompression, a sufficiently rapid pressure equalisation between the inner region of the aircraft cabin affected by the decompression and the region of the aircraft delimited by the side lining panels and the aircraft outer skin. Depending on the design of the aircraft cabin, this may be feasible only with difficulty or not at all. In any case, an air outlet duct which serves both as an exhaust air discharge duct and as a pressure equalising duct usually has a large structural volume and relatively poor acoustic properties. This may lead to impairment of the comfort of the passengers in the aircraft cabin.
The invention is directed at the object of providing a space-savingly constructed decompression arrangement for an aircraft which, in the event of a sudden pressure drop in a region of the aircraft lying between the side lining panels of the cabin lining and the aircraft outer skin or an inner region of the aircraft cabin delimited by the side lining panels, can ensure a correct mutual pressure equalisation between the aircraft region lying between the side lining panels and the aircraft outer skin and the inner region of the aircraft cabin delimited by the side lining panels.